Foreign investment and the headquarters of multinational companies will become the two key focal points for the future development of the North Bund region, a “new engine” of growth for Shanghai. The Hongkou District released investment guidance on Thursday for the Huangpu River waterfront, located opposite to the Bund in Huangpu District and the Lujiazui financial hub in the Pudong New Area. Another 10 enterprises in finance, shipping and industrial Internet signed agreements to base themselves in the North Bund area. These include the asset management arm of TF Securities and Baibu, a cloud factory platform for the textile sector. “We plan to develop into an international platform, so we chose Shanghai as our new headquarters for its leading position in industrial Internet and international atmosphere,” said Guan Ruifeng, vice president of Guangzhou Zhijing Information Tech Co, which owns Baibu. “We’ve learned that the North Bund will become the future 'sitting room' of Shanghai and play a core role in the city’s development, which is in accordance with the company’s blueprint,” Guang said. “We’d like to develop along with the North Bund,” he added. Approved by China Securities Regulatory Commission in April, the asset management company under TF Securities, a Wuhan-based brokerage, ranks among China’s top 15, said Fu Yu, general manager of the newly founded company. “After moving to the North Bund, we’d like to further expand our role as a key financial platform,” Fu said on the sidelines of the signing ceremony. The ceremony was held in the 320-meter-high tower of the Sinar Mas Plaza, currently the tallest structure in Puxi. In the future, a 480-meter new landmark structure is planed for the North Bund to echo the Lujiazui skyscrapers on the opposite side of the river. The new building will become the tallest structure in Puxi and the third tallest in the city, after the 632-meter Shanghai Tower and the 492-meter Shanghai World Financial Center in Pudong’s Lujiazui area. About 8.4 million square meters of new construction space have been planned for the waterfront, equal to the total amount of building space in Lujiazui and on both sides of Century Avenue in Pudong. These include dozens of top-level office buildings to house about 100 headquarters of multinational firms, international organizations and functional institutes. The North Bund is home to nearly 1,600 financial companies which manage over 5 trillion yuan (US$705 billion) in assets. These include a ninth of China’s mutual funds as well as over 4,700 shipping companies and 40 shipping organizations, such as COSCO Shipping, Shanghai International Port Group, China Shipowners' Association and Costa Cruises, said Hu Guangjie, director of Hongkou. Zheng Hong, deputy director of Hongkou, released the investment guidelines for the North Bund to attract additional enterprises from across the world. According to the blueprint, the North Bund will mainly attract the headquarters of multinational companies; companies in sales and operation management, fund settlement, research, development and supply chain management; foreign, private and state-owned enterprises as well as international organizations and industrial institutes, said Hao Liguo, director of the Hongkou investment promotion office. “The 4-square-kilometer North Bund will become a key development driver of future Shanghai and reach top international standards with its industrial atmosphere, environment, infrastructure and medical and education systems,” Hao said.